An eSalvo reader from a top UK department store asks if an antique stove can be converted to run on electricity. Certainly there were no DIY kits nor craftspeople advertising this that we could find. Hence this short piece to ask if anyone has the latest information about the latest developments in this field, especially as the move away from fossil fuels - such as the trusty old gas effect coal or log fire - is likely to mean that they are less appealing in these times of climate change. That said, around half of the UK's electricity is still being generated by gas, so swapping coal or logs for an electric fake fire instead of gas is not particularly logical unless it can be argued to be better for the environment because an electric fake log fire is more efficient at producing heat than a gas fake log fire. In any event, whether gas or electric fake, is such a fire more efficient than some other means of cooking or heating?
 
We found Ren the Engineer's video (see the link) showing how he made a DIY fake log fire (which could easily be fake coal) using a sonic ioniser to create a mist or fog of water vapour through which three orange halogen lamps shine to produce a very realistic, but completely cold and safe, fake flame effect using around 25w of power.
 
For convector-style space heating it would be necessary to introduce some kind of warm air source, such as a fan heater - but the noise of the fan would ruin the fake effect. It is possible to buy the old-style one or two bar electric radiant fires, but it is hard to imagine how these could be safely fitted in combination with the fake log effect ioniser hlogen mist fire.
 
For a stove, there are one or two businesses in the USA, mainly in New England, who advertise converting stoves and ranges from wood or coal fuel to run on electricity. These are popular for someone who inherits a family house with an old stove and who would like to keep it for sentimental reasons but does not want to run it on traditional fuel. That said we saw a note on the Antique Stove Hospital of Rhode Island's website which reads:

Business changes
If you think things are fine in the USA, you better think again
1. My supplier of firebrick just closed after a lifetime of service.
2. My supplier of sand blast materials just closed after being in business since 1837!
3. My good nickel welding rod has been discontinued as it was too expensive to make.
4. My nickel plater has closed and moved and is no where near up to speed.
5. Every item I buy to work on stoves is getting more expensive at an accelerating rate.
Everything is not OK. Best to get prpared as it looks like trouble is headed our way

 
And we could not find anyone in the UK doing these types of conversion.
 
Please let us know if we have missed a business able to convert antique firegrates, grates, fireplaces, stoves or ranges from traditional fuels to run on electricity in UK, USA or Europe.